Butler County Gets Fed Approval to Train for Immigration Arrests
ICE Grant Allows Deputies to Make Immigration Arrests
CINCINNATI ENQUIRER - December 14, 2004
BY JENNIFER BAKER JBAKER@ENQUIRER.COM
Butler County sheriff's deputies and corrections officers will be the first in the Midwest to receive federal training that will allow them to make immigration arrests and begin the deportation process.
Sheriff Richard Jones announced Wednesday that federal authorities have granted his August request for 10 employees to undergo five weeks of training from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Next, Butler County and ICE officials need to agree on each agency's role. Once that's done, training will start next year.
Local authorities cannot enforce federal immigration laws. But once they complete the federal training, they can take action - as long as they work under the supervision and direction of ICE, not Jones, while making arrests.
That's OK with Jones.
"I've said all along that the federal government doesn't have the resources to keep pace with the ever-growing illegal alien problem throughout the nation, let alone here," Jones said.
He credited House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester Township, and U.S. Rep Steve Chabot, R-Westwood, for helping to push for the approval.
"Between them and what I have been doing here to put national pressure on it, it's worked," Jones said. "The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Out of roughly 8,000 law enforcement agencies in the country, only seven have it, and that's a feat in itself."
The seven agencies that have completed the training include 176 officers in five states - Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida and North Carolina, said Michael Gilhooly, an ICE spokesman. Another 30 agencies across the country are applying.
The training focuses on immigration law, civil rights, intercultural relations and ways to avoid racial profiling.
The local agency typically pays the salaries of its officers during training while ICE pays for training materials and salaries and travel expenses, he said. Cost figures were not available.
Jones said he plans to use drug forfeiture money for the training.
Meanwhile, local immigration lawyers say they will be closely watching Butler County.
Sherry Neal, the president of the Ohio Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, confirmed Wednesday the organization sent ICE a letter earlier this year objecting to Jones' request for immigration authority.
"We think there has been too much media attention to his efforts to get illegal people out of the county and that has been creating tension and that would not be the best person to grant powers to," said Neal.
Others, however, praised the new development.
"There is one immigration official in the state of Ohio for every 5,000 illegals that walk the streets," said William Barnhill of Maineville, whose son Kevin was stabbed to death in Mason on Aug. 26 by suspected illegal immigrants.
"You can't possibly run any kind of legitimate enforcement operation when you are outnumbered like that. The federal government has to give up control to the local law enforcement. It's just more eyes, more ears, more oversight."
Jones vows to continue his crusade against illegal immigrants and the businesses that knowingly employ them.
He even instructed an employee Wednesday to add an addendum to his "Illegal Aliens Here" sign posted outside the Butler County Jail: "Not for long."
CINCINNATI ENQUIRER - December 14, 2004
BY JENNIFER BAKER JBAKER@ENQUIRER.COM
Butler County sheriff's deputies and corrections officers will be the first in the Midwest to receive federal training that will allow them to make immigration arrests and begin the deportation process.
Sheriff Richard Jones announced Wednesday that federal authorities have granted his August request for 10 employees to undergo five weeks of training from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Next, Butler County and ICE officials need to agree on each agency's role. Once that's done, training will start next year.
Local authorities cannot enforce federal immigration laws. But once they complete the federal training, they can take action - as long as they work under the supervision and direction of ICE, not Jones, while making arrests.
That's OK with Jones.
"I've said all along that the federal government doesn't have the resources to keep pace with the ever-growing illegal alien problem throughout the nation, let alone here," Jones said.
He credited House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester Township, and U.S. Rep Steve Chabot, R-Westwood, for helping to push for the approval.
"Between them and what I have been doing here to put national pressure on it, it's worked," Jones said. "The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Out of roughly 8,000 law enforcement agencies in the country, only seven have it, and that's a feat in itself."
The seven agencies that have completed the training include 176 officers in five states - Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida and North Carolina, said Michael Gilhooly, an ICE spokesman. Another 30 agencies across the country are applying.
The training focuses on immigration law, civil rights, intercultural relations and ways to avoid racial profiling.
The local agency typically pays the salaries of its officers during training while ICE pays for training materials and salaries and travel expenses, he said. Cost figures were not available.
Jones said he plans to use drug forfeiture money for the training.
Meanwhile, local immigration lawyers say they will be closely watching Butler County.
Sherry Neal, the president of the Ohio Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, confirmed Wednesday the organization sent ICE a letter earlier this year objecting to Jones' request for immigration authority.
"We think there has been too much media attention to his efforts to get illegal people out of the county and that has been creating tension and that would not be the best person to grant powers to," said Neal.
Others, however, praised the new development.
"There is one immigration official in the state of Ohio for every 5,000 illegals that walk the streets," said William Barnhill of Maineville, whose son Kevin was stabbed to death in Mason on Aug. 26 by suspected illegal immigrants.
"You can't possibly run any kind of legitimate enforcement operation when you are outnumbered like that. The federal government has to give up control to the local law enforcement. It's just more eyes, more ears, more oversight."
Jones vows to continue his crusade against illegal immigrants and the businesses that knowingly employ them.
He even instructed an employee Wednesday to add an addendum to his "Illegal Aliens Here" sign posted outside the Butler County Jail: "Not for long."
posted by Scott @ 11:23 AM
1 Comments:
At 12:16 AM,
Monica Ewing said…
Immigrants: They are people first
God created and loved.
They have earnest lives and tragic deaths. How do we treat the undocumented workers in our midst?
With the same compassion and respect we afford other human beings. Some are here to work and return to their home countries, as many do throughout the world. But, if we are fortunate, they will choose to stay, raise their children and make the same contributions all past generations of immigrants have. The presence of brother and sisters from different cultures should be celebrated as a gift. When we enrich each other with our diversity, we become what God envisioned when he told the Israelites: "You too must befriend the alien, for you were once aliens yourselves." Human respect for our fellow man is a much more uplifting human response to immigrants. Immigrants simply want to survive and provide a future for their families. It is so limited and tortuous now that the only solution for so many long-suffering good people who would rather be legal is to become illegal for the sake of there families survival. We need to reestablish hope instead of fear that has become their primary emotion. We need to respect their rich culture and active faith. I will continue to support their human rights. This country holds the promise of a better way of life for most. What impresses me most, in the Hispanic population is their willingness to work hard for the money that they earn. The pride that they demonstrate in the fact that there families come before all else.
Do you have indoor plumbing?
Do you have running water?
Does your home consist of one room with a dirt floor?
Did you get a chance to complete elementary school?
Do you make more than $4.57 a day?
These are the things we in this country take for granted.
We need to promote peace, justice and respect for our immigrant brothers and sisters. Who are in search for a better life.
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